B2B Site, Popped Popcorn Launch & Wholesale Strategy

Date: December 2025 (filed 2026-04-05)
Client: ^[1]
Attendees: Karly Oykhman (Asymmetric), Gilbert Barrongo (Asymmetric), Avokerie Onorimuo (Asymmetric), Sherry Lucy Doudlah, Mark Doudlah, Jason Doudlah

Overview

December planning call covering three major workstreams: (1) review of the WooCommerce B2B wholesale site and its ShipStation integration challenges, (2) launch planning for a new 4.4 oz popped popcorn product targeting late January/early February, and (3) a wholesale lead generation campaign to move 2M+ lbs of existing popcorn inventory.

Key Decisions

• ShipStation interim workaround: Use "Other" as the carrier when marking manual/DFT/MCF orders as shipped — this bypasses the tracking number requirement. Long-term goal is to add custom carriers "DFT" (Doudlah Farms Transport) and "MCF" (Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment).
• Payment tracking via WooCommerce order statuses: Rather than blocking orders on unpaid invoices (too risky given Net 30 terms and weekly ordering patterns), Sherry will manually update order status (e.g., "Pending Payment" → "Paid") upon receiving checks or ACH confirmations.
• Popped popcorn bag spec locked: 10" × 15.2" bag, 4.4 oz. Weight chosen to accommodate 25% required airspace for sealing and to allow for future yellow popcorn (larger volume) without a bag redesign.
• Nutritional testing underway: $1,050 lab test sent to Nebraska to validate a "higher protein" claim — a key differentiator for biodynamic/regenerative/organic positioning. Results expected in 15–20 days.
• Vending machine bag: start design now. Rather than waiting for 4.4 oz launch results, begin design work on a 0.5 oz snack bag immediately to accelerate a potential vending market entry.
• Wholesale outreach campaign: Karly to pull ~1,000 leads (restaurants, hospitals, grocery, foodservice) via B2B broker system for a multi-touch email + phone campaign targeting bulk popcorn buyers.

Action Items

Topic Notes

B2B Site — WooCommerce / ShipStation Workflow

Current state: Site is built and ready for testing. Initial test users (Sherry, Vitruvian, Outposts) have not yet placed orders — attributed to holiday season timing, not site issues. Full rollout expected in January.

Feature requests surfaced during demo:

• Test login: Sherry needs a dedicated test account to walk through the full order flow (she plans to place a real Outposts order as the test).
• Subscriptions: Oak Crepes Cafe and similar customers want recurring orders (e.g., first Tuesday of every month). Karly to circle back with developer — a Chewy-style subscription model (skip, adjust frequency) is the target UX.
• Pallet pricing for 25 lb bags: Pallet pricing only makes sense for 25 lb bags (max 80 bags/pallet = 2,000 lbs) because smaller bag sizes carry the same cost regardless of volume. Suggested approach: note on site that pallet pricing is available, customers call to arrange.
• Order history: WooCommerce will retain full order history for each account going forward (pre-B2B orders not included).

ShipStation carrier problem:

"ShipStation is they think the order is done when it's shipped, but we're delivering. So it's not going UPS. It's going Doudlah Farms." — Sherry

The core issue: ShipStation requires a tracking number to mark an order as shipped. Doudlah Farms has two fulfillment methods that don't generate tracking numbers:
- DFT (Doudlah Farms Transport): Their own trucks, separate LLC, deliver to Madison-area accounts (Willie Street, Epic, Metcalfe's) every Tuesday.
- MCF (Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment): Orders placed manually in Amazon Seller Central; tracking not immediately available at time of ShipStation entry.

Interim solution: Select "Other" as carrier in ShipStation → system allows marking as shipped without a tracking number.

Long-term solution: Add custom carriers "DFT" and "MCF" (or "AMZ") to ShipStation account. Karly to investigate with developer/Mark.

Payment tracking:

Wisconsin Food Hub went 7 months without paying — only discovered after manually reconciling bank statements and invoices. The B2B site needs to surface unpaid invoices clearly.

Solution agreed: Use WooCommerce order statuses manually. When Sherry receives a check or ACH notification, she updates the order to "Paid." Blocking future orders on unpaid invoices was considered but rejected — too risky given Net 30 terms, weekly ordering cadence, and potential for Sherry to make a status error that locks out a paying customer.

Popped Popcorn Launch

Product specs:
- Bag size: 10" × 15.2"
- Net weight: 4.4 oz
- Rationale: 25% airspace required by federal weights & measures law for sealing; 4.4 oz (not 5 oz) leaves room for yellow popcorn's larger volume if variety is added later.
- Co-packer: TS Foods

Nutritional testing:
- Lab: Nebraska facility specializing in nutritional fact panels
- Sample: 30 cups / 250–300 grams of popped product
- Cost: $1,050
- Turnaround: 15–20 days
- Goal: Validate a "higher protein" claim — important differentiator given biodynamic/regenerative/organic/tested-clean positioning. Without the test, the claim cannot be made on packaging.

Launch timeline:
- January: "Coming Soon" page on website; popcorn featured in January newsletter (New Year's resolution angle — healthy snack, high fiber, affordable)
- Late January / Early February: Product live on website
- Post-launch: Evaluate sales data; if positive, expand to Amazon

Vending machine opportunity (0.5 oz bag):

Identified as a major strategic opportunity during the call. The organic/clean-label vending market currently lacks popcorn options. Target venues: hospitals, schools, courthouses, rest stops/waysides, large employers.

"I do know if I was in a vending machine business, I would want cleaner snacks. I would be looking for those." — Sherry

Decision: Don't wait for 4.4 oz launch results — begin 0.5 oz bag design work now with Jen (cc Justin at TS Foods) to compress the timeline. Karly to pull a list of vending machine operators via B2B broker.

Note on popped popcorn distribution economics: Per Justin at TS Foods, popcorn is typically popped within ~400 miles of its destination because the volume-to-weight ratio makes long-haul shipping of popped product impractical (50,000 lbs of seeds = 1 truck; 50,000 lbs of popped popcorn = ~5 trucks). Wholesale outreach should be weighted toward regional buyers.

Wholesale Lead Generation Campaign

Context: Doudlah Farms has 2M+ lbs of popcorn inventory and a near-term cash need. The B2B site alone won't move this volume fast enough — proactive outbound is required.

Plan:
- Karly pulls ~1,000 leads from B2B broker system, filtered by industry (grocery, restaurants, hospitals, schools, foodservice distributors like Performance Foods / Sysco), geography (Midwest-weighted given 400-mile distribution logic), and job title (purchasing/procurement roles)
- Multi-touch campaign: email sequence → phone follow-up
- Karly drafts outreach email; Mark Doudlah reviews before send

Related

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